Thank you so much.
I see. We can do Mx.
In many languages it’s very tough.
Mx.?
Yes. We can use Mx. if that’s what you prefer.
Can I ask, in our stories, we say Mr. X, Ms. Y. What pronoun do you prefer?
Yeah.
All right, thank you, Minister Tang. Thank you.
Yeah. You’re impressed so far with Facebook’s efforts? It’s not PR?
Is there a case for government intervention? Or is Facebook inevitably, in its DNA, going to facilitate bad things because of its profit-seeking, because it’s hegemonistic?
Facebook’s influence here is also enormous.
Unfortunately, Silicon Valley still rules the world. [laughs]
Gogoro.
Like who?
PTT is only one of many. The others are all very commercial. They’re all profit-seeking. In this world, what can the government do? Is there a case for breaking up these companies? Is there a case for regulating them differently? This is a debate in the US right now. I’m ...
We live in a world where social media is very anti-democratic. It’s controlled by these big companies.
Until we move to the day when social media is open source entirely and there’s protocols that are available for everyone to build on top of…
That’s 2021?
I’m conscious of the time. Anything else in the current election cycle with disinformation that you feel we didn’t talk about, that you’ve thought about recently?
Giant neighbor.
You don’t think the fact that China is in this position relative to Taiwan makes a difference with digital democracy?
Oh, yeah.
Taiwan has a broadband as what?
Is there anything about Taiwan’s particular geopolitical position that you have to adjust for in digital democracy or is it truly universal?
You don’t think about China?
You live here…
As a Taiwanese, you must think about China. You must think about the future in terms of what’s going to happen with China.
Climate change is a good example. Liberal democracies are not very good at thinking long term like that. For you, what is your picture of Taiwan’s future relative to China? Is it something that you can actually…Does it impact your day-to-day life?
What I’m trying to understand is what differentiates Taiwan from many other liberal democracies is the existential questions that hang above Taiwan. The future is just totally up for grabs in Taiwan in a different way than it is for…I don’t know. It’s comparable to what Israel faces. How does ...
I guess you’re non-partisan.
Yes.
Like the outcomes of elections and Chinese…
What about more traditional political issues?
Were you a very political person before you became a minister?
Why cautious? Why not be fully optimistic? [laughs]
Cautiously optimistic, what makes you pessimistic? What is the flipside of all this for you in terms of disinformation, in terms of Chinese influence?
That was when LINE Today agreed?
By July 2018, the quantitative metrics of the…
When did that start? When did the system begin?
Who responds?
To return to disinformation, your proposed solution that you gave to the CPJ, how much of that is implemented in Taiwan right now in terms of rapid response?
Really?
Who goes on Tuesdays? Is it just you or other ministers?
What did you hear in Wulai yesterday?
What kind of petitions do you hear?
The government has to respond to it if a certain number of people…
Sorry, the Friday is for a specific digital petition?
That’s your office hours. What about non-office-hour day?
Give me a…
Tell me what a day in the life of the digital minister of Taiwan is.
